When you think of Europe, you automatically think of its romantic, whimsical castles, perched high on a hill overlooking a picturesque town below. It’s hard to imagine a time when it was normal for royalty to walk these palaces, surrounded in gilded hallways and gold, stuccoed ballrooms. It’s also fascinating to wonder what they might think today to see thousands of tourists every day walking through their homes. But nonetheless, the average girl can finally experience what it’s like to be a princess, if only for a few hours in some of Europe’s most beautiful castles!

This holiday season, consider visiting the Stuttgart Christmas Market. Close your eyes and imagine a steeple church, narrow cobble stone streets and beautiful medieval architecture. Sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it!? Now, add in twinkling lights throughout the city, small wooden huts decorated with baubles upon baubles of Christmas charm, some crisp winter air with a cuppa pipping hot Glühwein and 300 years of history and you have yourself a German Christmas Market!

One of my favorite things about traveling is the chance to take pretty pictures. And while you can take a pretty picture allllll day long, for me, there is one time of day that I absolutely love above all else: Blue Hour! Prior to investing in a quality camera, I had never heard of “Blue Hour”, but once I learned what it was, it changed the way I enjoyed the evenings, especially while traveling. So what is Blue Hour and how can you take Blue Hour photos?

I’ll be home for Christmas!! Scratch that! Pack up your suitcase, bring your warmest jacket, your fluffiest scarf and winter mittens, throw in a pair of earmuffs and head to to those twinkling Christmas Markets in Europe! From the cutest, quaintest snow covered markets, warm Glühwein and a feeling of good cheer, it’s the happiest season of all when friends come to call! There’s no better way to describe the most wonderful time of the year when you visit a Christmas Market!

Quite simply put….yes!!! Beauty like I have never seen before…the kind that absolutely left me speechless and in complete awe at the bright turquoise color of the lake, rounded by woody mountains as far as the eye could see. But, with such breathtaking natural beauty, my question is whether or not, Walchensee is the most beautiful lake in Germany??

When considering a visit to Europe, some might become overwhelmed with the endless options when it comes to finding the best places to visit and the huge variety between countries. While hitting up Europe’s capital cities like London, Paris, Prague, or Rome, it’s always a great idea to include a few, smaller, picturesque towns, but finding these pretty little towns can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. So, I’ve gathered 50 small cities and cute towns in Europe that are just downright STUPID PRETTY!

This is a sponsored post and California Globetrotter was invited by Bottle Stops as a guest on the wine tour, as well as a guest of me and all hotels in Mainz, but as always, all pictures are mine unless otherwise stated and all opinions are entirely my own! This post also contains affiliate links […]

Let me transport you to an enchanted forest where gnomes play tricks and scamper through the forest, and where the trees come to life beneath the canopy of pine trees. Where delicious aromas waft from a real life Gingerbread house and where you can experience a Christmas market away from the prying eyes of hordes of tourists and the same ole, same ole making it one of the most unique Christmas Markets in Germany!!

CALLING ALL PUMPKIN LOVERS!!! If you enjoy the chill of autumn, a thick mist which rolls in in the evenings and dissipates in the afternoon to clear blue skies, soaking up the last remnants of warmth. If you love bundling up to go to a Pumpkin Patch and get giddy every time you get a Pumpkin Spice Latte and love all things pumpkin, then you are my kind of kindred spirit. That means you’re officially invited to the world’s largest pumpkin festival, known as Kürbisaustellung which takes place every autumn in the gardens of Schloss Ludwigsburg, just outside of Stuttgart.

After recently spending 7 weeks in the US, trying to decide if we wanted to move back, I realized how much I have changed in my 6 years living in Germany. Life in Germany is so comfortable, easy and relaxed. There is Ordnung to everything that we do here and over time, the rigid rules Germans live by eventually become daily habits, you hardly notice that they no longer bother you, but more that without them you don’t know what to do with yourself. When you leave the country for an extended amount of time you suddenly find yourself aching to get back as quickly as possible.